A NEW SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27081, 16 May 1949, Page 4

A NEW SERVICE

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE OFFICE IN DUNEDIN SPECIALIST EXPECTED SOON Industry and its employees in Otago and Southland will soon be able to call on expert medical authorities for advice on the health problems of the working day. A Division of Industrial Hygiene has been established in the Health Department and an office will be set up in Dunedin similar to those already established at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. A doctor for the Dunedin office will arrive in New Zealand next month by the Dominion Monarch, and he will take up the position of medical inspector of factories for Otago and Southland. Although identical work has beet undertaken for many years in Britain the employment of specialists in industrial hygiene is a new development in New Zealand. The aim is to offer skilled advice on the medical side of industry wherever it may be sought. An English specialist in the branch of medicine, who will direct the work in Auckland, Dr F. H. King, told a Daily Times special cori-espondent that in Britain the opinions of industrial hygiene staff were frequently obtained when industrialists planned new factories. Their suggestions on such points as lay-out, lighting, ventilation and safe manufacturing methods had often been found valuable. Recommendations were frequently offered on processing methods which possessed a health hazard where workers were unavoidably subjected to danger in the course of their employment. They could also be counselled on the best ways of reducing infection. The funcr tion of the division was a purely. advisory service, available without charge. “ Our job is to advise and recommend when we are asked to do so,” Dr King said. “ I have never given an order. It is not our duty to force ideas on anyone. We exist only to be. helpful.”